


Rough seas, Gentle seas

by Tywyll



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Not Canon Compliant, So., but only due to a timeline and maybe sexuality, but that's what smut is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:41:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21951616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tywyll/pseuds/Tywyll
Summary: Fjord needs help arranging his room in the Xhorhause, Caduceus gives him a hand, and a job.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Fjord
Kudos: 32





	1. The Fine Art of Furniture Arrangement

**Author's Note:**

> there's no smut in this first chapter, but there will be in later ones, rest assured! and when they happen, i'll update the tags to reflect what they do!

Fjord stood in the doorway to his room in the Xhorhouse looking intently at the way his furniture had been silently arranged, determined to figure out what he was missing. Across the hall, Jester was shoving Yashas bed away from the wall so she could do… what he wasn’t sure, but he saw her with paint, and decided to try and save the large woman some pain.  
“Ah, Jester, could you do me a favor please?” he called threw the open door.  
“What is it Fjord, i’m a little busy!” she called back, turning her head slightly, but still facing the wall.  
“I think my room may be missing something important, and i’m not sure what it is. I need someone with a more… creative eye then i have.” he saw her stand just a little taller, clearly excited at having a hand in the design and lay out of his room, and a twinge of guilt shot threw him. I’m so sorry Jester, you’re just. Not quite my type.  
“Well, let me see what we’re working with!” she practically sang and danced her way into his room before taking a slow turn in the center of the room. “Why do you have everything pushed together in that corner?”  
“To take up less space?” he almost tripped his way through the sentence, it caught him off guard. What did she mean why was it all in the corner?  
“Fjord. You’re going to have the same amount of room whether you pile everything up or not. Besides, why do you need so much room anyways?”  
“I mean. I’m still not the best with this,” he started, summoning the falchion. “It gives me space to practice.”  
“You could just use the patio for that. Or the basement, there’s lots of space in other rooms.” she took a look around again and moved over to his dresser. “Here, let me help you move these to better spots. That desk? Put it under the window. I’ll move this.”  
“Oh, do you want a-nope you’ve just lifted it. That’s fine.” and he began pushing things toward other walls, rearranging things a few times, and making the room feel lived in. An hour later, Jester sighed, and put her fists on her hips.  
“Fjord. We need to get you some paintings, or something to hang on the walls, and a rug. Your floor just feels too bare, and your walls are just too naked.” she wiggled her eyebrows at him with that last words and he looked away, a slightly darker green.  
“Yes, perhaps i should. Thank you Jester, that was very helpful!” he turned back to her with a smile, surprised to find that she had made several very quiet steps forward, leaning into his ear.  
“Make sure you get a thick, soft rug, Beau said it’s way better for when you have cute girls over to stay the night.” she winked and pranced out of the room, leaving him standing, stunned, in the middle of his room.  
A moment later, he managed to shake out of it, and headed up to the top of the Xhorhaus where he’d seen Caduceus earlier that day. Reaching the top, he found Caduceus, his back turned, tending to some of the plants he had moved next to the giant tree he’d summoned to the top of the tower. He watched quietly for a moment, waiting for the tall firbolg to reach a natural pause, not wanting to interrupt him.  
“Fjord, is there something I can help you with?” Caduceus called, not even turning his attention from the plants.  
“Uh, um yes, if you wouldn’t mind, but it can wait, if you’re busy. It’s nothing urgent.” Fjord always found it slightly disconcerting how his friend was nearly always aware of when he was being crept up on.  
“Well. if you need to talk, you can come over here, give me a hand, and we’ll see if we can’t help each other.” he motioned to a couple of small shrubs Fjord didn’t recognize. “Those both need to be planted, one there in that hole there, and the other just here” he shifted revealing that he was actually digging with his hands. Fjord nodded and carefully picked one of them bringing it over to the hole Caduceus was digging.  
“I don’t really need to talk, per say, but if you would like to, your voice is rather relaxing. It makes me feel like, despite everything, all the chaos, and the war, and everything else, things will turn out alright.”  
“I don’t know about all that. I mean, it really is quite a lot, things are really changing. Even here, I think we may have just changed the native environment, and I really didn’t think about it, but I'm gonna try and make the best of what I've got here, and I'll deal with whatever comes next as it happens. What do you think you’re trying to get done now, here, in Xhorhas?”  
“I think we’re trying to curry favor with the Bright Queen, so we can put an end to this war, right?”  
“As a group, yea, that’s exactly what we’re doing, but what are you, personally, doing? How is Fjord trying to grow and change and become who he is destined to be?” for the first time since Fjord came to the top of the tower, Caduceus turned to face him, planting his light pink eyes squarely on Fjords golden-green ones. Fjord held his gaze for a moment before turning slightly away and back to the bush in his hands.  
“I am trying to live up to the chance I've been given. To be the man that, someone very important knows I can be.”  
“Is that who you want to be though? It’s ok if it’s not, and I'm willing to help you become the person you want to be, or the person who he wants you to be, if that’s what you want.”  
“Hmmm… you know, i’m not totally sure yet. For now, I think they’re the same person.”  
“Nothing wrong with that. Just keep your mind open.” for a few minutes they were quiet while the last shrub went into the soil that caleb had kindly brought up. When it was packed gently in, Caduceus stood up and brushed to dirt off his hands.  
“So, there was something you need when you came up here, and I think we’re done with my thing, so let’s move onto your thing. What was it that you needed?”  
“Honestly, i just need some help picking out some decorations for my room. Jester said it looked a little bare, and I think there’s something missing, and I need a rug.”  
“A rug and something else. Sounds good. Something for your walls maybe?”  
“Yea, I’m thinking something cliche, like a net on the walls, with shells or something stuck inside.”  
“Yea, sounds nice. Should we get going, or are we waiting for other people?”  
“I wasn’t planning on bringing anyone else.”  
“I’ll follow you then.”  
As they left, Fjord glanced into Yashas room to see what Jester was doing. It looked a bit like she had splashed a mess of green and blue paint onto the wall and was attempting to make something out of it, so he shrugged and resolved to question her about it when he got back.  
As they left the clatter of pipes on their door behind, Caduceus pointed out a couple of small flowers growing in the crack between peoples walls the stone of the street.  
“Those are actually very rare, they used to grow in the Grove, but the soil stopped supporting them after the corruption started to overtake the walls. The petals are very toxic, but the leaves make an amazing tea.”  
“Should we pick it then? Have some tea at home for whenever?” Fjord asked, moving to pick one of them before Caduceus grabbed his hands pulling him away.  
“Toxic means you can’t touch it, and i didn’t bring my gloves, so for now, it stays, pushing its way forward in the world between the cracks.”  
“I… see? I will not touch it then.”  
“A good plan. What are you looking at putting on the walls?”  
“Probably some fishing nets? I haven’t yet decided.” Fjord admitted, a little sheepishly and scratched at his neck.  
“For your time at the sea, or for the giant snake thing inside you?”  
“For my time as a sailor, of course, there’s no giant monster in me. I’m not even sure there’s a real rock in me. Let's check this shop.” Fjord pressed past Caduceus, thankful that there was a furniture store he could deflect into. It was an unfortunate decision that he didn’t recognize until he was already inside.  
“That’s a very interesting desk, is it for interrogations?” Caduceus asked, pointing towards what very clearly was not a desk. Fjord, grateful for Caduceus’ sheltered upbringing, started pushing him back towards the door.  
“No, no. This is clearly a specialty store for not my purposes.” his accent slipping while he shoved. “We need a store with fewer handcuffs in the furniture.”  
“Fine by me. Mr Caleb might have use of one someday, so take note of where this store is.”  
“Whatever you need to do, we can do it while we walk swiftly away from here and towards a rug store!” regaining some of his composure and all of his accent, Fjord finally managed to shove Caduceus out of the store and back onto the street.


	2. Color Theory

“Was it Jester that recommended a rug? Or did you talk to Beau?” Caduceus asked a short while later, after Fjord had managed to get the embarrassment from his face.  
“Well, it was Jester, but it was advice that she’d gotten from Beau, so I suppose you could say both?” as they walked, Fjord was attempting to spot rugs between the pop up shops and street vendors. A few barkers called out in common and orc, specifically trying to get the bright queens new guests to be seen at their stalls.  
“Interesting. I wonder, do you think Jester fully understood her suggestions weight? Coming from Beau, there are definitely some… implications.” Caduceus mussed allowed.  
“Oh, she’s well aware, trust me. Her mother is the Ruby of the Sea, remember? I would be more surprised if she didn’t.” he flushed just a bit, thinking about the short scene from that morning. “Honestly, I think she knows more about sex then anyone else in the Nein. Academically, if nothing else.”  
“What about Nott? She has a kid. And the way she looked at Mr. Sunbreaker the other day, wow.”  
“That’s… yep. It goes Nott, Jester, Beau or Yasha, and then the rest of us probably.” Fjord rubbed his eyes for a moment trying not to picture a hamster and a banana before having something of a realization. “Do you think Caleb has ever had sex? I know Molly did, they very much did, I know that first hand, and I hope you haven’t, what with the living with your family for years,” he coughed briefly, realizing what he’d just said, “and then alone for years more, but Caleb, I don’t know about.”  
“That’s a good question. I don’t know. Should we ask him?” Caduceus asked, nudging Fjord slightly. Then, teasing him just a little, “Just how first hand did you know Molly fucks?” Fjord groaned a little.  
“He hired two people to be his ‘friends’ and I was trying to sleep in the other bed. They were up for most of the night, and I ended up sleeping in Nott and Calebs’ room.”  
“So it wasn’t you and them? That’s less fun. You should have joined.” Fjord laughed before pointing towards a small shop tucked up under the awnings of another two stores.  
“Lets try there, it looks disreputable enough to have very nice rugs.”  
“Sure.” Caduceus gently pushed threw the crowd, making just enough space for Fjord to follow behind and into the shop.  
Once inside, they were surprised to find just how quiet the shop was, aside from a light tinkling noise from a bell on the door, compared to how loud the street had been. Some quiet clattering from the back of the shop allerted them to the fact that the shop was not unattended, but that it may be more of a family shop they the exterior had led them to believe.  
“One moment!” from the back of the shop, a very beautiful voice called out, followed by gentle clattering, and quiet cursing. Then, pushing threw a rug that had been hanging on the wall, masking a door to the back room, a rather tall harpy entered, a pair of spectacles perched on her beak, and very fine blue silks covering anything not covered in white vultures feathers. “Hello! Welcome to Voleas Fine Woven Goods, I am Volea Cloudshard, the owner and shops craftsman. Is there something i can help you find?” Fjord hesitated a moment, before making his request.  
“Um, well, I’m looking for a rug, soft as you can make it and I’d like it to be the color of the sea, if that’s possible?”  
“The color of the sea? You must be a sailor! I must confess, I've never been to sea, and am not certain the color, but I can show you the blues and greens that i’ve been told are the right colors if you’d like!”  
“Uh, yes, if you wouldn’t mind”  
“Of course! Right this way please.” she practically sang every word, oblivious to the former mariners quiet discomfort with her voice. He recalled more than one of his comrades walking all to calmly to their deaths due to a harpies voice. He jumped slightly as Caduceus put a gentle hand on his shoulder, quietly casting Heroism on his friend, calming his fears instantly.  
“Hey, you’re gonna be ok. I’m here.” he said, giving Fjords shoulder a soft squeeze before calling out, “I’m just gonna brouse, if that’s ok.” and wandered off into the rows of rugs and baskets, and wicker furniture, while Volea raised a wing in affirmation. Fjord quietly followed her off to one side, feeling much better then he had a few moments before.  
“So, these are our most sea-like colors, were you looking for any patterns, or a simpler rug, just for the texture?” Volea asked, still sing-song and oblivious to the change in Fjords demeanor.  
“I was hoping for something simple, but large. I like lay on the floor sometimes after a rough day, and something soft is the real goal.” Volea waggled an eyebrow at him as he finished his sentence.  
“I see. A rough day then? Well, i do have these here, there’s some padding underneath the main weave that makes it a bit easier to relax after the days pounding. Very soft on the feet or the back.” she winked at him, before glancing in the general direction Caduceus had wandered in.  
“Oh, um. This is actually something a friend of mine recommended, to help decorate my room, we just got a house, you see, and it’s nothing untoward like that.” Fjord flushed again, realizing his talking was only digging a deeper hole, as the harpy began wiggling her eyebrows at him.  
“Oh, my apologies, have you been ‘friends’ long then? These really are my softest rugs, but i do have nicer things to lay on, if you’d like.”  
“No, this will do, thank you, Miss Cloudshard. How much will i owe you?” he fought back the color trying to rise further up his face and reaching for his coin purse.  
“Well, normally, it’s be 8 gold, but for you two, I'll knock it down to 7.”  
“Eight it is then” he quickly passed her 8 gold, and put his purse away.  
“And where am i delivering it to?” she smiled at him as sweetly as her beak would allow.  
“The big house with the tree on top, if you step outside, you can actually see it from here.”  
“Perfect! I’ll have it there within the hour. Is there anything else I can do for you?”  
“Is there a decoration shop near here that specializes in wall mounted things?” Caduceus asked, materializing behind Fjord, as if he sensed the shorter mans’ distress, causing him to jump.  
“Oh yes, it’s just up the road that way, look for the carved goblin out front, you can't miss it! They have so many nice things!”  
“Thank you Miss Cloudshard, we’ll be out of your hair now then.” and he gave a friendly wave as they left Volea rigging up a carrier to the rolled up rug, and took off down the street.

Almost two hours later, Caduceus and Fjord returned to the Xhorhause, loaded down with a large rope fishing net, and anchor and several other nautical themed trinkets to weave into the net. As the door clanged open, they heard Jester headed down the stairs from the second floor.  
“Fjord! A really nice harpy was just here dropping off a rug! Is there a special reason it-” her voice was cut short as she spotted the two of them struggling under the net and everything else they had managed to load themselves down with, and laughed. “Here, let me help you with those~” she ran over taking the heaviest looking objects from the two of them.  
“Thank you Jester, i think my spine was about to break.”  
“Don’t worry, I wouldn't let that happen to you! You’re one of my best friends!” she skipped back up the stairs with the items and disappeared again.  
“She’s very strong. have you noticed how wildly strong she is, because she’s very strong? That anchor is meant to stop whole ships, and she danced up the stairs.” Caduceus remarked, very much surprised.  
“Yes, well. She’s lead an interesting life, and was partially raised by a minotaur.”  
“Oh, so she used to rough house with a minotaur?”  
“I don’t know,” Fjord readjusted the things he was holding and started towards the stairs. “You should ask her once we’re up there.”  
“Good point.” Caduceus started following him up the stairs, trying not to drop the smaller objects they had hauled back.  
Once in the room, they found Jester splayed out over the rug in a tablou of a painting model.  
“Look Caduceus, Fjords rug matches my skin perfectly! And it’s so soft! I don’t think anyone could get a rug burn on it if they tried!” she gave him a wink, making Fjord blush. “But show me what you’ve got, we’ll see if we can make all this junk work and make this place feel like someone lives here!” With that, Fjord and Caduceus carefully placed all the little trinkets on the carpet and Fjord jokingly threw the net over Jester, who laughed and wriggled her way out of it.  
“I think we’ve got a few things we can actually throw into the net, and things that i think i’ll just put around the room a bit. The anchor, for example, i’ll be putting on my desk against the wall.” Fjord said pointing out a few other things. Jester nodded, looking at the rest of the pile.  
“Well, let’s get to work then! Caduceus, will you be helping us?” Jester asked.  
“Sure, why not? I could use some creative work for a bit.” he replied, sitting down on the rug. Seeing the quiet relief on Fjords face as he sat cemented that he made the right decision.  
“Oookieee,” sighed Jester, clearly hoping for some alone time with Fjord. She recovered quickly with a “Well then, let’s make this bread!” and set to work fixing shells and things wooden fish into the net.


	3. Crabs and Nott Much Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smutt free again, if you can believe it.

After only a few minutes of weaving, Jester put her end of the net down and flopped backwards onto the ground with a sigh.  
“I didn’t think this would be so boring, but it looks nice as it’s coming along! I’m gonna go see if Caleb needs help decorating, or moving furniture, if that’s ok with you guys?”  
“Sure, I’m fine with that. I think it’s kind of therapeutic in a way, all the weaving.” Caduceus said looking up with a smile. “And I'm sure that Caleb could use a lot of help setting up, he's not very strong!”  
“Ok!” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll see you guys at dinner!” Caduceus smiled at her back as she walked out.  
“She’s very energetic, isn’t she?” he said, turning back towards Fjord.  
“Very, I don't think I've ever seen her slow down for even a second.” he paused for a second. “Actually, I take it back, she was really out of it when we got kidnapped, but after that, she bounced back really well.”  
“Hmmm. Interesting. She’s lived inside for most of her life hasn’t she?”  
“I think so? I hadn’t really asked, it seemed like it might be rude to, you know?”  
“I suppose it might be. I only ask because it seems like it would be very rough on the people she would have lived with.”  
“Well, judging by how much her mother loves her, she was probably fine. She did also live with a minotaur as well. She must have gone to bed exhausted until she was as strong as he was.”  
“Hmmm. I would have loved to see that. A younger Jester, suplexing an adult minotaur.”  
At that, Fjord was forced to put down the net as he laughed and rocked back and forth, wiping tears from his eyes.  
“All I'm seeing is two feet of blue anger, and a blur of horns and fur! Hahaha!”  
“It is a good mental image!” Caduceus smiled. “I’ll think of that if I ever need a happy thought”  
Eventually, Fjord calmed down enough that he could get back to weaving. “Actually, before we met you, we had a cart that ended up with a broken wheel, and she just lifted the whole dang thing up so we could fix it, all on her own. She’s crazy strong. Like, unreal.”  
“Really? Huh.” Caduceus asked, largely unphased. “Do you have crabs?”  
“What? Do i- no! Why would I have crabs? Have I been itching a lot and just not-” Fjord was cut off, by Caduceus looking up at him with a half smile, and a very light pink hue to his face as well as his hair. “Oh you meant- uh yea, right here.” Fjord passed him a crab shell that had been petrified in place, fighting to ignore the heat creeping up the back of his neck.  
“Thank you Fjord, for giving me your crab.”  
“Could you not!”  
“Not say thank you?”  
“Thank you” Nott said, ceasing her walk towards the kitchen. “Wait, thank you for what?”  
“Oh, sorry Nott, I meant it with one t. Fjord gave me crabs.” Caduceus said, starting to smile and hold up the petrified crab; to which Fjord began to cover his face with his hands, and Nott pushed threw the door in a flash.  
“He WHAT? Oh! The crustacean! I was, uh, expecting something else. You two have fun there.” and she sped back out the door, headed for her and Yeza’s room.  
Caduceus examined the space where she had just left for a moment before turning back to face Fjord, the smile slowly dropping off his face when he realized how upset he had made him. “Oh, I'm sorry Fjord, is everything alright?”  
“Yes, it’s just” he blew out a lung full of air before continuing. “I know it was a joke, but it’s also Nott, she’s the worst about secrets, and she’s probably gonna tell everyone she passes that i, and now you, have crabs, and i’m really not looking forward to explaining that they’re actual crabs that you can see and eat. Or not eat, seeing as,” he pauses before yelling past Caduceus, “THEY’RE DECORATIONS! I think that might have bought us some validity later.”  
“I’m sorry Fjord, I really didn’t think about it, and I really would like to make it up to you if you’d allow me to.”  
“Really, Caduceus, just finishing up with me here, that’s enough. I know you didn’t mean any harm by it, so at the end of the day i might go tit-for-tat with Jester about it, but no harm no foul.”  
“Well, that’s not true, plenty of fouls happen without causing harm. I think Caleb called it a ‘party foul’ when I pulled all the alcohol out of Nott without asking.” Fjord thought for a moment.  
“True, but what I mean is that you didn’t actually harm anyone, and so I don’t think you did anything wrong.”  
“How about a compromise then, I’ll help you finish this decorating, and sometime in the future, I’ll do you a, ah, ah, what’s the word, ah”  
“A favor?” suggested Fjord, raising an eyebrow at the slender man.  
“Ah! Yea, that’s the word, a favor. Whatever you need, you let me know, ok?” Caduceus smilled across the net at him, while Fjord fought to keep his heart beat in check.  
“It’s always when he smiles” he thought to himself. “And he’s always smiling!” he swallowed hard. “Sure, that’s fine by me. Hey Cad, do me a favor and pass me that shell.”  
“Mr. Fjord, that’s not going to work.” he said, passing over the shell. “Little things like that are freebees! They don’t count as real favors.”  
“Fine,” Fjord sighed, as he drilled a small hole before pushing some thread through. “I’ll ask for a real one later.” Caduceus smiled back at him.  
“Dunno what the hell I’ll need though” he grumbled as Caduceus turned back to his work.

A short while later, Fjord was just placing the last of the trinkets (a carved wooden octopus) into the net, while Caduceus stretched his back out before standing up.  
“I’d probably better get down to the kitchen to start up dinner. You have a hankering for anything in particular? Crab?” Caduceus asked with a wry smile.  
“Ah no, anything but crab, actually,” Fjord groaned from the floor. “Oh, we should have asked about regional specialties while we were out today.”  
“Hmmm… we’ll have to do that tomorrow, then. I’ll see if I can pick up a cookbook or two while we ask around.”  
“Sounds like a plan, would you mind if I went with you?”  
“If you’d like to come, I’m sure I’ll appreciate the company.” With that, Caduceus started down the hall and into the kitchen. A few moments later and Yasha peeked into the room.  
“Nott said you had a whole mess of crabs in here, do you need a hand with that?” she asked, taking a confused look around the room.  
“If you could bring me one skinned goblin, that would be fantastic. Preferably around this tall, this wide, used to wear a creepy doll mask and gloves with a grotesque facsimile of halfling fingernails?” he glared in the general direction of Nott and Yeza’s room.  
“So no crabs then? Cause I don’t see them, other than the ones you have in the net.”  
“Nope, no crabs. Nott just heard a thing out of context and ran with it.”  
“Oh, ok. Do you want me to help you hand that up somewhere while I’m here or…”  
“That would be lovely, thank you Yasha.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little thing to indulge in some minor torture for a friend of mine. If you like it, you're welcome! If not, that's fine! If you have some constructive criticism, feel free to leave it down below! have a nice day!


End file.
